Asteroids -- fragments and debris that are floating around our solar system -- come in all shapes and sizes, and a massive one is soon going to fly past our planet.
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An asteroid as large as a stadium is soon going to fly past our planet at extremely high speeds, NASA has warned.?
The gigantic asteroid has been named ¡®2008 Go20¡¯ and is travelling towards Earth at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour -- around eight kilometres per second.?
The gargantuan space object is expected to fly by Earth on July 24 at 3:35 PM Eastern Time, which is around 1:05 AM IST on Sunday.?
Ever since the extinction of dinosaurs is linked with asteroids falling from the sky, humans have feared if this will be the death of us all, however, it doesn't quite look like it. Not yet at least.?
NASA¡¯s database highlights that the asteroid has a diameter of 220 metres and will be flying at a distance of 28,79,847,607 kilometres.?
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To put this in perspective this is around eight times the distance between Earth and Moon, so it¡¯s safe to say that it¡¯s quite far and this won¡¯t be a close fly-by. The asteroid is currently in an orbit that¡¯s called Apollo.?
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What¡¯s surprising is that this orbit is categorised as one with some of the most vicious asteroids. The category is named after the 1862 Apollo asteroid that was discovered by the German astronomer Karl Reinmuth.
An asteroid is considered a Near-Earth Object (NEO) when its distance from Earth is less than 1.3 times the distance from Earth to the Sun. Even though the asteroid is at a relatively safe distance (0.03283 astronomical units to be precise) NASA is continuously monitoring it for any anomalies.